Campaigners are hitting back at zoo proposals to cull adult male gorillas, arguing that they should be returned to the wild instead.
Overcrowding of critically endangered western lowland gorillas in zoos has led the influential European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), which regulates most zoos in Europe, to consider killing adult males of the species.
Western lowland gorillas are the smallest of the four gorilla subspecies, standing at 122cm to 183cm when upright. Tests on one lowland gorilla found an IQ of 70 to 90 — the average IQ for humans on many tests is 100, and most people score somewhere between 85 and 115.
Photo: EPA-EFE
In the wild, they are critically endangered. The exact number of western lowland gorillas is not known because they inhabit some of the most dense and remote rainforests in Africa.
Because of poaching and disease, the gorilla’s numbers have declined by more than 60 percent over the past 20 to 25 years.
Leaked documents seen by the Guardian reveal that culling, castration and keeping adult single males in solitary confinement for a large portion of their lives are seen as potential solutions to an overpopulation of the species in zoos.
The gorilla population in EAZA-regulated zoos consists of 463 individuals — 212 males, 250 females and one of unknown sex — at 69 institutions.
The association’s gorilla action plan, released to stakeholders in zoos, admits that culling would be “the most appropriate tool if strictly talking from the biological point of view,” but that the decision could be unpopular with the public.
The document reads: “The main downside of this option is that it is controversial in many countries and in some illegal, in specific circumstances. Any discussion on culling can quickly become an emotional one because it is easy to empathize with gorillas. This carries a high risk that an emotional response by the public and/or zoo staff and keepers, catalyzed by social media, inflicts damage to zoos and aquariums.”
Once male gorillas reach a certain age, zoos do not keep them in all-male groups, because of the risk of violence.
Zoos are also loth to keep them in mixed groups, as there would be nowhere to house any resultant offspring.
Other animals that are given non-breeding recommendations in European zoos because of overpopulation include white tigers, pumas and ocelots.
Conservationist and rewilder Damian Aspinall, who runs wildlife parks in Kent, England, is working with political campaigner Carrie Johnson to draw attention to the plight of animals in zoos. He believes that gorillas should be returned to the wild rather than culled.
“It’s a sad day for the zoological community when they are considering culling gorillas when there is a great opportunity to rewild gorillas like the Aspinall Foundation has done for 30 years, having rewilded over 70 gorillas,” he said.
Nevertheless, some scientists argue that it is too difficult to return gorillas to the wild in most cases, as there is not enough habitat to safely release them and avoid conflict with others of the species — and humans — and that they can carry diseases that might wipe out wild populations.
Ben Garrod, a primatologist and professor of evolutionary biology and science engagement at the University of East Anglia, said: “The last thing anyone serious about conservation and welfare wants is to discuss culls, but they can serve a function in some situations. Introducing any large mammal to the wild comes with so many considerations and difficulties, and great apes are an especially risky group.”
“Great apes, such as gorillas, are able to pick up many of the diseases our own species carries, and if they were introduced into wild gorilla populations, the effects would be devastating,” he said. “Similarly, animals being introduced into the wild need a habitat away from humans, and away from other gorillas ideally, partly to reduce conflict and partly to reduce any possible infection or disease spread.”
“Realistically, there isn’t an abundance of such pristine suitable habitat out there — that’s part of the original problem,” he said. “I’d ask why any zoo is able to breed so many gorillas that a cull is even considered necessary. Do we cull the babies or old animals or excess males? These are social, sentient and cultured animals. We do not have the right to treat them as surplus stock in this way. To breed animals like this without a sustainable and ethical outcome is reckless to say the least, and needs to be addressed.”
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
RSS